Rural Development Project in the Mountain Zones of Errachidia Province

The project's overall goal is to improve the living conditions and incomes of poor households in the mountain zones of Errachidia province, which is part of Morocco’s Meknès-Tafilalet region. It will help tackle the root causes of rural poverty, which include inadequate social and economic services, poor infrastructure, mismanagement of land and water resources, and high illiteracy rates. To reach its goals the project will focus on:

• strengthening participatory programming and building the capacities of grass-roots organizations and provincial and local public administrations by promoting pro-poor local institutions and training their staff and board members in participatory development
• creating socio-economic and productive assets by rehabilitating small-scale irrigation infrastructure, improving accessibility, supplying drinking water, promoting soil and water conservation, and intensifying and diversifying agricultural production
• diversifying income sources by providing sustainable access to local financial services and business counselling services

The project will develop rural financial infrastructure for credit delivery, which is presently precarious, and it will promote the development of new financial and non-financial products adapted to the needs of poor rural people. Through the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH), which was launched by Morocco in May 2005 in eight communes in the project area, an IFAD grant will finance income-generating activities for women and young people in ecotourism, production of aromatic and medicinal plants and artisanal production. IFAD’s intervention is part of a long-term programme to reduce poverty in Morocco’s mountain areas. It is in full synergy with and is complementary to the country’s Millennium Challenge Corporation programme for the project area.

Source: IFAD